Principal Foods for Wild Turkeys

How's the habitat?

The kind of food, cover and water present in an area determines the suitability of that habitat for turkeys. Different foods are preferred during the four seasons. Turkeys may use different areas in the winter than they do during the spring and summer.

Because food plants are distributed variably throughout turkey range, principal foods are given here as generalities.

Principal Foods During the Four Seasons

Winter

Spring

Summer

Fall

Acorns

Acorns

Grass, leaves

Sedges

Grass,
sedge

Grass,
sedge

Blackberries

Acorns

Corn

Corn

Acorns

Insects

Wild
grapes

Beechnuts

Wild cherries

Beechnuts

Dogwoods

Burdock

Huckleberries

Wild grapes

Sumacs

Ferns

Bristle grasses

Wheat

Beechnuts

Non-woody legumes

Blueberries

Corn

Honeysuckle

Wild grapes

Wild grapes

Insects

Wild cherries

Insects

Black gum

Hawthorn

Insects

Buckwheat

Buttercup

Hawthorns

Sedges

Wild rye

Persimmons

Hornbeam

Violets

By learning to recognize preferred foods, the turkey hunter can better identify where turkeys might be found. The amount of birds in a spring flock is a reflection of quality of habitat and the weather during the previous spring. Heavy spring rains and extended cold periods cause high polt mortality resulting In fewer jakes the following spring.